Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

“The tyranny of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, or other Arab regimes pales compared to the extreme brutality of Saddam Hussein’s and the Assad family’s regimes. I hold no grudge against a leftist Tunisian, Moroccan, or Algerian unaware of the extent of Syria’s violence. However, I do reproach those who know but remain silent . My dear friend the social psychologist Azzam Amin, famously referred to this group as the ‘barrel bomb left’— those who support Assad’s use of barrel bombs on Syrian civilians.”

While one can understand that the positive reactions to the assassination by Syrians opposed to the Syrian regime are a form of revenge because of Hezbollah’s complicity, the context surrounding the current moment, matters. We have to be clear, Israel’s war against Lebanon is not to promote the freedom of Syrians or any other population in the region suffering from authoritarian states. With this in mind, Palestinians and Lebanese people have the right to resist Israel’s racist, colonial apartheid state violence, including through military resistance. This includes the right of Hezbollah and Hamas, which are the main actors involved in the armed confrontation with the Israeli occupation army, to resist.” Joseph Daher explains why celebrating Israel's assassination Hezbollah's Nasrallah is short sighted when it comes to Syrians’ struggle against Assad's regime.

“According to Caroline Rose, co-author of the New Lines Institute report  ‘most production happens in Syria, in labs she describes as ‘industrial-scale’. The operation is thought to involve at least 15 major sites, many on the coast, which is controlled by the Assad regime. It spans Damascus, Aleppo and Homs provinces, as well as areas on the borders with Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. Since the regime rules with an iron fist, it’s clear that captagon production is only possible because the authorities turn a blind eye. Syria, diplomatically isolated, under Western sanctions, and until recently on poor terms with neighbouring Turkey and Iraq, is trying to diversify its revenue sources, even if that means being labelled a narco-state – an accusation Damascus rejects.” My sources suggest that Major General Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother and commander of the Syrian Republican Guard’s elite fourth armoured division, plays a key role. ‘ The fourth division oversees a series of indus...

Beginning in 2014 and 2015 respectively,  US and Russian interventions would in time lead to some 75,000 air strikes against Iraq and Syria. However much the coalition’s actions against ISIS (Daesh) and Russia’s support for Assad differ in intent and context, both have been disastrous for people on the ground; the bombing campaigns alone have killed between 20,000 and 55,000 Syrian and Iraqi civilians. The alliance’s figure of 1,417 civilian deaths has been widely contested. In December 2021 a  New York Times  investigation based on a review of 1,300 Pentagon reports concluded that ‘the air war has been marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting, and the deaths of thousands of civilians, many of them children, a sharp contrast to the American government’s image of war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. The coalition claims it values transparency and is willing ‘to work with anyone making allegations or providing new, credible i...

Rojava’s Suspended Future

 A Syrian gravedigger recounts a genocide, but is anyone listening?